Mutilla europaea
| Mutilla europaea | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Mutilla europaea |
||||||||||||
| Systematics | ||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||
| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Mutilla europaea | ||||||||||||
| Linnaeus , 1758 |
Mutilla europaea is a hymenoptera fromthe ant family wasps (Mutillidae). The species is very difficult to separate from Mutilla marginata and Mutilla brutia .
features
The animals reach a body length of 10 to 15 millimeters (females) or 11 to 17 millimeters (males). The mesonotum and scutellum are usually red, more rarely black. The rest of the body is black; there are three bandages with white hair on the abdomen. The second tergite is coarse and densely dotted. The legs are black haired. Females have significantly smaller compound eyes . A stridulation organ is formed between the third and fourth tergite , with which the animals can produce sounds by rubbing against each other.
Occurrence
The species is distributed in North Africa, Europe and east to Siberia . It colonizes different habitats and occurs in the settlement area. The animals occur from late May to late August. They can be found widespread in Central Europe.
Way of life
Mutilla europaea parasitizes the larvae of bumblebees , especially the bumblebee ( Bombus pascuorum ). The female tracks down the host's nest and digs a passage in the earth there. In it, eggs are laid in cells with bumblebee larvae. The bug ant larva not only eats the bumblebee larva, but also any nectar and pollen supplies that may still be present. Sometimes bumblebees' nests can be very heavily infested, so that practically only trug ants hatch instead of bumblebees. The females of Mutilla europaea are very nimble and have a strong chitin armor that the bumblebees usually cannot penetrate. They can cause very painful stings to people. The males can be seen on umbellifers in summer .
swell
literature
- Rolf Witt: Wasps. Observe, determine. Naturbuch-Verlag, Augsburg 1998, ISBN 3-89440-243-1 .